3.0 Cold Pen Glacial Cascade Mines

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Trentemoller wrote:

here is my progress in HC harbinger

Spoiler

comfortably and quickly clearing up to T7, 5.2k EHP with 1k from MoM + Acro/Phase. Shield Charge feels really great with this build too, you just charge > drop mines> charge > Drop mines > detonate and blow up the whole screen with pack oneshots... my damage is absurd after 5-linking and grabbing an essence worm. and then pop Spell Totem + Vaal Grace and dps down single target, it's really wonderful. breaches are the best with this build and the autoaiming spell totem glaciers lmao

Have you completed merciless labs? Clearing up to the boss is easy but the boss itself is able to 2-3 shot me. Maybe I'm not kiting well enough? This is my first real character so I'm not sure if this normally happens or if there's something wrong with my character.

Look at windz profile his build used shield charge and fortify for better survivability and he hit 95 in hc earlier this week before he died

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Sayerp wrote:

"

Trentemoller wrote:

here is my progress in HC harbinger

Spoiler

comfortably and quickly clearing up to T7, 5.2k EHP with 1k from MoM + Acro/Phase. Shield Charge feels really great with this build too, you just charge > drop mines> charge > Drop mines > detonate and blow up the whole screen with pack oneshots... my damage is absurd after 5-linking and grabbing an essence worm. and then pop Spell Totem + Vaal Grace and dps down single target, it's really wonderful. breaches are the best with this build and the autoaiming spell totem glaciers lmao

Have you completed merciless labs? Clearing up to the boss is easy but the boss itself is able to 2-3 shot me. Maybe I'm not kiting well enough? This is my first real character so I'm not sure if this normally happens or if there's something wrong with my character.

Yeah I did it last night, it was no problem. I think getting 2-3 shot by Merc Izaro is not too concerning, that is probably par for the course for many spellcasters.

For everyone asking about survivability, you have to bear in mind that GC mines absolutely does not lack damage even when running an ultra-defensive spec without a Tremor Rod. The damage from your gems and skilltree nodes will carry you sooo far. I cruised to yellow maps on a 4-link, noncrit, with a scepter/shield-- it was only around Tier 6 maps that my damage started to feel SLIGHTLY sluggish, but even then it was better than most builds I've played in HC at this level.

As far as I can tell, you don't need crit, hatred, tremor rod, or any of that DPS-oriented stuff until much later (yellow-red maps). So if you are having trouble staying alive, I would recommend the following:

-swap Hatred for Blasphemy-Temp Chains

-consider grabbing Acrobatics/Phase Acro (only if you are already evasion-based)

-get more mana nodes from the tree for your MoM, should always be running about ~35% of your life total in unreserved mana

-get a shield

-get a scepter/dagger for shield charge/whirling blades + fortify

-pimp out your CWDT setup (CWDT lv. 1 + detonate mines is a m a z i n g)

-get as many life nodes as you can feasibly reach from the tree (you can look at my tree by going to my profile and looking at "Klaptor"

-get as much Life as you can on every piece of gear, it is your most important stat. My tree has 200% increased life from nodes

Thanks for all the helpful information in here guys!

On another note, I could use some help in regards to gearing towards endgame.
I think I'm doing fairly well, having cleared Uber Lab and clearing T10 maps easily.
My goal for this league is getting to Guardians and Shaper, if possible with this build since I love exploding the whole screen at once xD
Could you guys point me in some direction on which items are BiS for this goal?
Are there any other uniques besides Tremor Rod and Essence Worm that can elevate this build further?
You can see my progress at my characters Tab (Chill_Bringer)

Thx in advance!

I have been running my own Glacial Saboteur build before ZiggyD posted his video but I am sure he did tweak the build better for players that are new to the build.

I will try to provide more in-depth info if I can come onto the forum more often.

This is the item that I am running for players that intend to grasp an idea of how you can further evolve further down the Glacial Saboteur build than what was shown on the video running rares.



Armor like Carrcass Jack is a hidden gem to this build and should be a go-to.

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This has been going fabulously well all the way through. Level 79 right now with 3.7k life and 2k mana, and I'm not finding it squishy in T7 maps so far. That's probably part play style though...I'm always ready to GTFO.

To that end, if you're gonna go the ZiggyD way, I do think there are some really important things to consider.

Essence Worm really is good. The numbers say it's twice as much mana for your MoM (assuming you're using Hatred), but it's really more than that, because your mana's never really full. If you're at half mana without EW, you're at 3/4 mana with EW and have 3x as much mana available for MoM. It also idiot-proofs you a little by reducing the chance that you run out of mana without realizing it.

Plus it frees up a socket that you can use for an ice golem or something else.

Flasks are also vital. Here are mine:



Ample or Chemist's on Quicksilver of Adrenaline is good because it gives you three uses without having to recharge. Great for GTFO. I also have 30% move speed boots for the same reason.

The life flasks must be Seething, because pressing the button three or four times really quick takes you from dead to full life. You really don't need a lot of Staunching since you won't take any bleeds from Corrupted Bloodline packs, and I will be changing one of mine to Warding after I get a few more alt orbs. Heat on the mana flask is because freezing can ruin your whole day, especially on strongboxes.

I always ran an Amethyst flask because my tree doesn't have any chaos resistance at all, but upgrading it to Atziri's Promise is pretty great because it double dips with GC. Drop a Detonate Mines totem, activate Vaal Clarity, and pop Atziri's Promise and you don't have to worry about being squishy because nothing will be alive to hit you. Map bosses included.

I also agree with the above post about Carcass Jack, but as much for the increased AoE as for the extra damage. Reaching further means avoiding getting hit, and the range feels a little short once you link Conc Effect to GC. This helps.

Is it best to go for MoM right away? Or is it better to go for something like Force Shaper and Doom Cast first?

I don't think this build is end-game viable, has any tried to do uber lab / uber atziri or shaper?

Ascendancy order?
Love the build so far :D